Zenobia C-II

[PFMcFarland]

Found this one just the other day in an antique store. And it didn’t have an antique price on it!

The second generation of Daiichi Optical Company’s (DOC) copy of the Zeiss Ikonta A, it has a 3.5/75 Neo-Hesper (Tessar type) lens in a Daiichi-Rapid shutter (exact copy of the Compur-rapid). Improvements are a new top plate that incorporates the finder in a solid housing, accessory shoe, DOF calculator, winding knob, and shutter release with cable socket.

I put a roll of Fujicolor Pro 160 NS in it, added a Kodak 32mm push-on hood, and hit the road (south on US-11 to be exact). I really guessed wrong as to what shutter speed to use, and went too slow at 1/100. Should have used 1/250, and opened the aperture a slight bit. Even though the 1 sec speed is fine, the higher ones could still be a bit slow. So, after getting the scans back, I spent the afternoon fixing exposures and color. The lens handles flare pretty well, and the controls are all in the right places. Except for that left handed shutter release. It’s not wrong, it’s just left. Didn’t take much to get used to.

You can read about the Zenobia cameras here in better detail:

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Zenobia

Now I have to see if I can find some 32mm push-on filters.


Zenobia C-II Front by br1078phot, on Flickr


Side-By-Side Zenobia-Ikomat 1 by br1078phot, on Flickr


Quiet Course by br1078phot, on Flickr


Church In Springtime by br1078phot, on Flickr


Plum Creek Makeover by br1078phot, on Flickr


Silent Cannon by br1078phot, on Flickr


Walking The Carolina Road by br1078phot, on Flickr

See more at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N ... 155388101/

PF

[Julio1fer]

That is a pretty good little camera, and an excellent test roll. I like the American Legion shot, that one is scarily sharp. You got some flare in the railway picture but that seems a very extreme case.

Spring seems fully installed in your area.

I had a Zenobia just like yours. The lens was very good, and the camera was small and easy to handle. In the end, I could not get used to the 4.5 x 6 format and gave the Zenobia to a friend.

[PFMcFarland]

Thanks, Julio. I like 645, as you get four more shots per 120 roll than with 6x6, and it's almost perfect for 5x7 frames, with very little wasted image. I would have been shooting the Ikomat, but it's missing the aperture setting pointer, and my first attempt to replace it with something else failed, and I just haven't got back to finding a replacement. I think the one on my parts donor Retina Ia might fit it.

PF

[jamesmck]

Very nice results from this little gem, Phil. I have one here somewhere. Do you have any issues getting the film spool into the chamber?
-- James

[PFMcFarland]

Thanks, James. Not a problem on the film spool.

PF